Homelessness surges in New Mexico, Albuquerque metro faces growing strain

Homelessness in New Mexico has climbed to levels that now strain the Albuquerque metro area, where Bernalillo County’s count has doubled in two years and Albuquerque recorded 2,960 people experiencing homelessness in the latest point-in-time survey. For Sandoval County, the practical question is whether that pressure will continue to spill north into shelters, schools, hospitals, law enforcement calls and mutual-aid networks.

The 2025 Point-In-Time Count, collected on Jan. 22, 2025 and released Nov. 17, 2025, is the one-night January survey that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development uses to help determine federal homelessness funding. The New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness said it has conducted the statewide count annually since 2021 across New Mexico’s two Continuum of Care regions. The new data showed how sharply the crisis has widened in and around Albuquerque, even as local and state leaders poured more money into housing and homelessness programs.

Statewide, New Mexico’s 2024 federal homelessness estimate reached 4,631 people on a single night, an all-time high. Nearly half, 48.4%, were unsheltered. A separate Legislative Finance Committee report in May 2026 said the state invested more than $500 million over three years in housing initiatives, yet homelessness still rose 48% statewide from 2022 to 2023. Albuquerque’s homelessness rose 83% in that same span, or by more than 1,000 people.

Officials have pointed to housing costs, inflation, wages and gas prices as drivers, while also highlighting major public spending. In August 2025, the state announced $120 million in housing and homelessness projects, including $80 million for Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. City leaders said the money was intended to expand affordable housing, reduce homelessness and improve public safety, and Bernalillo County said it expected to use the money to jump-start its BernCo Builds Communities initiative.

Bernalillo County also reported that more than 2,500 people maintained or accessed housing through its homeless prevention program, including nearly 800 families and 1,300 children. But the broader coordination structure in the metro has been unsettled. The Homeless Coordinating Council, which includes the City of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, the Veterans Administration and the University of New Mexico, had its meetings postponed pending a new memorandum of understanding.

Sandoval County has its own line of defense. Its Permanent Supportive Housing Program provides HUD-funded rental assistance and optional case management for chronically disabled people who meet the federal definition of chronic literal homelessness. As Albuquerque and Bernalillo County absorb more of the region’s pressure, that local capacity will matter if more residents move, seek help or fall through gaps in the metro area’s strained system.